Very Interesting Armour

[Clive Sinclaire]

Gentlemen

May I invite you to http://www.To-ken.com go to "Articles" where we reprint an entry from the last Bonhams, New York, sale of Fine Japanese Works of Art (Sep 13) where there were a number of good armours. In particular, Lot 2281 had a very interesting provenance, but I believe it failed to reach its estimate of a mere $60,000 - $70,000! which seemed a trifle ambitious. I suspect that these armours came from Japan to sell in the US.

Let me know what you think.

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

[IanB]

Clive, A very interesting armour indeed. I wonder what induced the temple to sell the armour off. I was interested to note that the gunbai on the mune is decorated with a spray of three bamboo leaves in each corner and has an ichi character superimposed. In addition, the so-called 'plum florets' within the hexagonal frame are not plum but the flowery diamond as used by the Takeda. This seems odd since Nobumasa was so badly treated by the Takeda. I have a suspicion that this armour is not quite what it seems.

 

Ian Bottomley

[Miura]

Ian Bottomley

Clive, A very interesting armour indeed. I wonder what induced the temple to sell the armour off. I was interested to note that the gunbai on the mune is decorated with a spray of three bamboo leaves in each corner and has an ichi character superimposed. In addition, the so-called 'plum florets' within the hexagonal frame are not plum but the flowery diamond as used by the Takeda. This seems odd since Nobumasa was so badly treated by the Takeda. I have a suspicion that this armour is not quite what it seems.

 

Ian Bottomley

 

Ian,

 

Its difficult to say what Nobumasa (at that time Sadamasa) felt about Shingen, but we know he didn't like Katsuyori. Further research should be done on Kamon before we close the door (one way or the other). The reasoning above is logical and in plain sight, which is why I would have assumed the "Takeda" mon to NOT be present if somebody was trying to pull a fast one. Further, I don't think that particular design was directly a Takeda family mon. Similar design, but not what the main Takeda family used. I would expect a "hana-bishi" mon - for Takeda. These particular types of small kanamono were applied to armors during the late 1500s so the style is right, but it had been re-laced and they must be removed to re-lace. I suppose there were probably more on the armor at one point. In other armors that I have seen in shrines and temples, such decorations (even when broken or discarded) are kept with the original armor in the box. The Okudaira armor had been re-laced several times and had the shikoro replaced at least once - likely circa 1600 - and definitely had the age. I assume at least part of the re-lacing was done sometime from the second half of the 18th-first half of the 19th century as the weave of the silk is common for that period. The armor was previously owned by the temple in question - thats a fact and its printed in two publications-, but was loaned out to museums for several years and was sold off right at the burst of the bubble. I don't know if that was any reason for its sale - we can only guess. I personally feel the armor to be the real deal. The inscription in the box is definitely old as it was applied before the wood of the box cracked from age as the boarders of the crack match perfectly with the old crack of the box. The armor is currently on loan to the Frazier museum in Kentucky. (it doesn't belong to me by the way but I am a big supporter of its provenance). It is credited as belonging to Okudaira Nobumasa and I would not have allowed this to go through unless I was 100% convinced it did belong to him. In september when we are packing up, you are welcome to come have a look for yourself.

Best,

Andy Mancabelli

[IanB]

Andy, Please forgive the delay in answering, but I did not see your posting until today. A considerable time has now elapsed since I made the comments I did and I cannot now recall what I was thinking at the time. I take your point about the partial re-lacing of the armour and I would suggest that the textiles may have been replaced as well. I suspect my suspicions were raised by having seen so many pieces go through major salerooms with glowing descriptions that were so obviously false. One I remember was a helmet with the front modelled as an oni's face. The original is in the Watanabe Museum in Tottori and I had seen it there the year before. I was rather taken aback to see it was apparently been sold off. However, on looking closely, the smell of acrylic polymer re-assured me Tottori hadn't taken that decision.

To return to the armour in question. I fully accept your reasoning and accept you may well be right, but allow me to be brutal and consider the evidence we really have. Although the box has the inscription, which I accept is almost certainly genuine, there is nothing that associates the armour with the box. There is nothing about the armour that indicates it is not of the right sort of date, other than it is in remarkably good condition for that period, but as you say it has probably been re-furbished. So what is there to indicate it was worn by Okudaira Nobumasa? The answer lies with the one small kanamono and the fact that it is being sold with the box. You are correct about the other kanamono - that almost certainly has nothing to do with the Takeda family, and I wonder now why I thought it did, but I still think it is a kamon. The damage on the armour's right shows there was at least one other kanamono, presumably another hanabishi in a hexagon. This also suggests they have been there for some time. The principle one is based on a kamon of a gunbai with bamboo and an ichi, not the gunbai kamon normally attributed to Okudaira Nobumasa. Now I know full well that the study of Sengoku era kamon is a minefield but the differences here are rather large. Being my usual cynical self, I would ask is the provenance of this armour beyond question or should a note of caution creep in - the point I was making in my original comment.

Ian Bottomley

[Miura]

Hi Ian,

 

Again, I have to apologize for my reply being late as it is. I had signed up to receive an email if somebody answered this thread but it did not come. The display has kept me so busy I have not had a minute to spend on forums. Be careful with brutality, but I think you did it with class so no offense. You are just being conservative as it is a rather important armor. Lets forget about the details of the gumpai kamon. As you said yourself, sengoku variations are a mine field. The research I did with all of the Uesugi artifacts turned up multiple variations within that family alone. As for this, style is proper for period and proper for Okudaira, but thats not the reason I would say its absolutely Okudaira Nobumasa's armor. I thought I answered this earlier but I guess I was not clear. The armor came from Okudaira Nobumasa's temple. The one he founded in Kyoto when he was working as attache/liason to the Emperor for the Shogun. It was owned by the temple and on display in a museum for a number of years and and was published as under their ownership in several exhibition catalogs right up until it was sold by the temple to the collector who purchased it. (they should have been referenced by Bohnams catalog)

 

Period wise it is correct, and when I took it apart yesterday (we are cleaning up still - 240 items) I looked a the lacing up close. Its hand woven! (rather than a die weave) I found that interesting as well and maybe why it is so well preserved. Does it date to his time, I don't know. The armor definitely does. In my opinion the shikoro was changed out sometime around Sekigahara, as the koshimaki has been turned down. From my experience, armors with kasajikoro were mostly changed to hineno etc. before that battle or shortly after. All of the fabrics are proper and match.

 

Condition. Yes its in good condition. But its what I would expect form something that was in temple storage. Condition is very consistent with such items. I have worked with a number of shrines and temples on research and restoration projects and I would just say that there are so many different conditions that cause things to either deteriorate or not. The best condition being those which are kept in boxes, not too cold, and far enough away from the ocean that they don't rust. The other thing is of course the original quality. Old Haruta preserves the best. They used the best iron and the best urushi. Thats what we have here.... I still have to assume that at some point it did have some stuff restored. In general, I have found that shrines and temples do not mess with boxes and armors. They are very superstitious, and very conservative regarding their items. Every time I work with them I promise to keep my research/photographs private unless special permission is given to publish. Im a bit superstitious myself. You can trust the province of this armor. Plain and simple. I would trust it more than the province of the ones in the London Tower. I mean, didn't they get brought over by John Saris after all? hehe. And didn't they have a bunch of kanamono ripped off of them? Who's to say they are what the museum says they are..... (I'm Joking but I think it makes my point) At some point we have to either trust our records, and the individuals who represent the items. I understand. It is a body of evidence. Here, I represent it. I like to think that I have a very good reputation - especially amongst the Japanese. Yes, false attributions are a plenty these days and have made millionaires of evil men. I am poor, and honest. I chose that path many years ago while everybody else got rich. I would stake my life on this armor - and its not mine.

 

I wish you could have been here for the exhibition we had some great pieces including a couple that were National Treasure level, and many other bunkazai class pieces. Your book is still a standard for Samurai arms and Armor. If not one of the best. I hope we can together in person sometime soon.

 

Best,

Andy

[Justin Grant]

Hi Andy,

 

I don't have anything to add to the debate here, but I did attend the display at Frazier and took several pictures of some very nice items. It was a wonderful display and I managed to secure several catalogs.

 

Thanks for the wonderful display that was just an hour from my home.

 

Justin

[IanB]

Andy, I bow to your opinion - after all, you have handled the armour and I haven't. I'm afraid my questioning of its authenticity arose from too many disappointing experiences. You are right about the King James armour brought back by Saris. Whilst it was in the tender hands of the military it suffered terribly, as did so much of the armour in the Tower - cleaned on a regular basis with brick-dust and Rangoon oil (not to mention the diligent scraping off of gilding to eke out pay). To my mind the work done on it in the 1970's was less than satisfactory. During the process it lost its kote, haidate, suneate and box and underwent a very drastic cleaning. I have only ever seen a black and white photograph of it before this was done and I am not even sure about the present colour scheme. Still we do have the other armour which survived in far better condition having been in various palaces all its life. That at least retains its original lacing. We are also lucky in having the haramaki presented to King Philip II of Spain although that has suffered relacing by Victorian Tower staff.

Ian

[Luc T]

I must have missed something, can someone give the correct link to the sale results?

[Miura]

Hi Guys,

Again sorry for the late reply. At least I got one notification this time. Ian, I have seen a very thorough collection of photographs of the london tower armor before it was restored. It really was time to do it. If they hadn't done it, it would have continued to deteriorate. The restoration was quite conservative (as could be), and the color scheme was chosen based on what it was originally based on tiny fragments of cord that still existed between the scales. The urushi was done as conservatively as possible and the signature "Iwai Yozaemon" was preserved on the inside of the shikoro. Quite a few of the kanamono were fabricated as well by a national treasure kanamonoshi (Ibuse san) - now deceased. As the kuwagata was gone, they modeled the present one after a smilar armor in Japan. (the hinomaru) Im really sorry you couldn't make it to Kentucky. I would love to have met you in person. Tomorrow is the last day of the packing/cleanup. If the armor above comes to Japan in a couple years, we will likely be working together.

 

I know the Watanabe collection. I think the museum is basically always buying and selling though like most private museums in Japan so I would not be surprised if the owner had been the one to order the production of the fake you mentioned. I have seen other replicas from that collection that were russet! In the last year a variety of fake dragonfly kawari have popped out - using old hachi. Nowadays fake signatures are a plenty.... and as long as people buy the stuff it will be for sale. Why wont people buy legitimate modern stuff anymore? Do they like being lied to? Anyway, I digress from the subject.

 

Justin, I am really happy that you were able to attend. I wish I could have been there when you were there to give you the tour. Unfortunately they left out a lot of the back story for some of the more important items such as Yamaguchi samanosuke's helmet, Mogami Yoshiaki's armor, and of course Okudaira Nobumasa's armor. The stories of those pieces are really interesting and key in the shaping of modern Japan. We also had the aikuchi that Tokugawa Ieyasu wore to Hideyoshi's golden tea ceremony..... they were there, but without the tour they were just really nice items.

 

I think that Clive either removed or changed the link.... Anyway, you can probably look it up in bohnam's history. It was the auction of October 2011 in New york. If somebody were interested in it I migh be able to discuss it with the owner. Its also published in the catalog for the samurai exhibition at the Frazier History Museum. The sale for the catalogs will be over in a couple weeks. Its only $9.99 now!

 

Guys, thanks for all the chat on these interesting topis. Off to bed. Another early day.

Best,

Andy

[Iekatsu]

Here is the link. http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19253/lot/2281/

[Luc T]

Thanks for the link.

this seems to be a fine armor.